SasuSaku Month 2015
by ZJeM
Summary: Years of waiting, loving and hurting, of laughing, hoping and crying... But we made it. Our ship is canon. [Contribution to Tumblr's SasuSaku Month 2015]
1. Day 1 - MATCHMAKER

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is mine, except for the undying love for this ship, my OTP.

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 **A/N:** I'm more than happy to announce this year's series of short stories for Tumblr's Sasusaku Month 2015! This year, I think I'll try a different formula than last time and write shorter drabbles, but I hope to succeed on more days than in 2014. So… I hope you'll stay with me through our favorite month of the year! Please enjoy! :)

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 _ **SASUSAKU MONTH 2015**_

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 **Day 1 –** _ **MATCHMAKER**_

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"Do you think he'll be back from the mission?" Ino's voice got to her through a thick curtain of thoughts and it was only the question that made her come back to the reality of the labyrinth of doubts inside her own head. The two were sat in an office in the Children's Mental Healthcare Clinic, one of the few places undisturbed by the hospital's usual noises, like the patients' lively voices, the best signs of their states' improvement, or the nurses' invaluable hard work the medic ninjas just could never thank them enough for. Sakura shifted in her seat and tried to send her sleepiness away with a swift movement of brushing a few pink wisps away from her eyes.

"You mean... Sasuke-kun..?" the kunoichi replied carefully, not meeting her friend's expectant gaze but being able to note, out of the corner of her eye, the annoyance in the other's posture and quick tapping of lean fingers on the desk's top. Ino stood up suddenly and walked to the bookcase to fetch some new necessary data, her long, glossy ponytail waving behind her and over the curves of her body alongside the skirt she was wearing sweeping the floor with the smooth turn she made to return to their working place. Sakura couldn't deny her own looks had also changed for the better, with the years that had passed, but the amount of classical beauty Ino had was, in her own opinion, never to be obtained by her.

"Of course! Do you think he'll come home to the hanami festival this year?" the Yamanaka heir pressed impatiently, briskly leafing through the files but never taking her eyes off Sakura, who forced herself to look into the sky-blue pools. After a short while of a stare fight, the pink-haired kunoichi turned back to the forms she'd been filling in for the past hour or so.

"He will..." she whispered, even more to convince herself than to answer the question, "I'm sure he will..."

 **X**

"Bye, Sakura-chan! See you there, right?" Naruto was grinning at her all the way until she rounded the corner and him and Hinata were no longer able to watch her go back to her house. It was mere moments before that she'd been forced out of the hospital by the blond hurricane grumbling loudly about how rest was needed for the best medic ninja in the village (he stubbornly claimed that even better than Tsunade, but Sakura wasn't so sure) and how she had no choice but to join everybody at the annual sakura flowers adoration (even more so because of her name!).

She sighed at her friend's obstinacy, she still had plenty of time to prepare, after all! However, Sakura couldn't help but smile, lazily stomping step by step through the sunlit street and seeing the villagers dressed in beautiful, colorful kimonos, excited and cheerful, greeting their close ones on the way to the numerous flower watching points organized all over Konoha.

A small girl in a particularly pretty, creamy-orange outfit with tiny white ume petals painted on the material run happily through the street but just when she was about to pass Sakura, she tripped and fell on the ground, scratching her hands and dirtying the kimono.

"It's ok, I'll heal this for you. Please don't cry," the young woman came up to the child and smiled even wider just for the cause of cheering her up, wiping a few tears away from it's face and placing a glowing palm above two tiny fists with droplets of blood on their insides. Just a few seconds of treatment and there was no sign of the injury ever even present. The girl gasped in wonderment and giggled, wrapping her arms around her new favorite doctor's neck and letting herself be picked up from the ground.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry!" an older woman appeared beside the two, visibly upset and looking from Sakura to the child with wrinkles of worry on her forehead that Sakura found absolutely unnecessary to be staining her noble features. "Thank you so much, young lady," she bowed her head in respect when the girl freed herself from her savior's grip and run to the older woman's side, grabbing her grandmother's hand.

"No, no, it's nothing, really!" Sakura tried to object but the woman wouldn't listen.

"Are you going to the hanami festival..?" she asked suddenly, eyeing the young woman's casual working clothes and frowning, seeming to be forming a plan of some kind in her head that Sakura had no clue of what it could be. Upon hearing a confirmatory response, her face lit up with a smile making her eyes glow happily and before she knew it, Sakura was being dragged behind her to the woman's house with small Hiroko bouncing around them, humming a joyful child tune of some kind.

 **X**

Delicate pinkish petals whirled gracefully in the air of the warm afternoon. Sakura walked through the park, partially searching for her friends but mostly stuck whole in the magical atmosphere of her favorite festival of the year. Her steps careful, she didn't want to ruin Mrs. Uchida's kindest efforts. It had appeared that Hiroko's grandmother was a well-known kimono maker and, to show her gratitude for helping her granddaughter, she'd decided to lend Sakura one of her finest pieces of art of traditional clothing.

The kimono was simply breathtaking and the kunoichi still couldn't believe she was lucky enough to be awarded with such an honor, moreover, for doing the right thing and addressing her responsibilities as a medical ninja. The soft, navy-blue material rustled with the smallest moves she made, adding further to the dignified feeling of that day's celebration. Big, rosy flowers were decorating the sleeves and the neckline and a crimson-red obi belted Sakura's slim waist. Mrs. Uchida had insisted on pining her hair up by her own, experienced hands and the kunoichi also held a thin paper fan to add to the traditional look.

When she'd been allowed to look at herself in the mirror, Sakura had almost not recognized herself, so different she looked from common days. Usually, she wore what was most comfortable and practical but on that special occasion, she truly felt like a honorable princess of the flowers whose beauty was being celebrated.

And so, her surroundings and her appearance were two things that kept her mind occupied, but they weren't, by no means, what bothered her the most. Out of the clinic and free of work, she had more than enough time to sink into the lane of thoughts she'd been trying to suppress for the longest time of longing, every day since he'd walked out of the village to help in a particularly difficult task in the Land of Iron… She hadn't even had enough time to relish in his presence after he'd come back, having succeeded in finding his road for redemption, and he'd had to go away once again! But then again, it wasn't like any amount of time before parting ways would have been enough to protect her from the ache…

But those were the things of the past right now and the presence nagged her with a question of another kind…

Was Sasuke-kun going to make it to the celebration, after all..?

 **X**

Her hands gripped the wooden bridge's barrier while Sakura's eyes plunged themselves in the picture of light rays reflecting in the rapid flow of the stream's crystal-clean water. Leaving the people's noise of talking and laughing, she took a break from Ino's envious glances at her kimono and joining in her friends' joy to reflect on the smudge of nostalgia inside of her. The sun was setting and she was slowly losing all what was left of the hope she'd harbored for the day.

Sakura understood. It was probably that something very important had happened. Something that made him unable to finish the mission just yet.

She shook her head shortly and smiled, ignoring how hard it was to do with her throat tightening dangerously. But she'd learnt not to be overcome by such symptoms. She'd be back to her normal, cheerful self in a minute. She just needed some space to gather the strength. She just…

"Sakura…" Her head jerked up at the sound so familiar and so awaited that she almost didn't know if her heart would be able to stand the force of the wave of warmth that flooded it just because of that simple one word coming from his mouth.

She turned around slowly, cautiously, almost as if she was afraid he'd disappear if she moved too quickly, like a good dream one wanted to prolong after awaking.

Sasuke stood at the base of the bridge, simple, black yukata with red obi and a large Uchiha crest on the back. His face was calm and collected, like always, but what she noticed and what brought her happiness as long back as after the war was the peace of mind reflecting in the features she loved and which were inseparable from the man she'd given her heart to long before. This state of mind was the only thing she'd always wanted for him, hurting and full of demons from the past…

The man's eyes never left hers but, this time, it wasn't only affection of quite an unreadable kind she was able to see in the obsidian orbs, but also… _Admiration_..?

Sasuke walked up to her and with every step, she felt her heart slow down its tense pace she'd become so familiar with for all those years. When the unmistakable smell of storm and flame teased her nostrils, she couldn't help but let a smile onto her face, the brightest, most sincere expression of sorts in years, with her cheeks colored pink and small tears of emotion appearing in the corners of her eyes.

He was there. He came back for her, on the day of the hanami festival.

Sasuke had promised he would, after all.

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 **ZJeM, 28.06.15**

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 **From author:**

So, I'm not sure who, or what, is the matchmaker in this story – the kimono, the festival or maybe Mrs. Uchida..? Please decide for yourself, if you want! ;)

Sakura's outfit was taken straight from the most beautiful Sakura badge I've ever seen and that, thanks to Watcon 3, I'm a proud owner of. 3

Please let me know what you think, it's double the fun with kind readers reviewing! ;)

THANKS FOR READING!


	2. Day 2 - NO FILTER

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is mine, except for the undying love for this ship, my OTP.

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 **Day 2 –** _ **NO FILTER**_

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Sasuke Uchiha is not, as many may think, a man of no emotions. Oh no, he can get very emotional over things, especially people, even more so when it comes to the small group of the ones he loves, truly and dearly. It's just that no ordinary person can tell what he's feeling at the moment. Sasuke's the exact opposite of the extraverted Naruto, as if he put a filter on his deepest thoughts and sensations.

His brother, Itachi, was always able to read his beloved sibling's mind. He was the one in possession of the power to clear every one of Sasuke's protective layers and see to the deepest of his heart.

Over the years, Sakura has started to be able to claim having an honor to become the second person to gain access to her lover's most private, intimate states of mind. She is able to notice and understand the smallest details, tiniest emotions, everything Sasuke doesn't show directly but that has been there, always.

But what makes her even happier is that not only has she become a better observant. It's that it feels like Sasuke has steadily grown easier to analyze when around her, as if his need for personal space shrank whenever it is just the two of them.

 **X**

The first time is unexpected. Wonderfully bizarre and so, so important that the actual meaning behind the gesture Sakura learns years after it's actually done.

She has said it, disposed of any senseless, stubborn pride and asked him, once again, if he would take her with him on his journey, gods only know how long it would last. And she's been rejected, like the other time, on that memorable night she spent on a bench in the outskirts of Konoha.

But today is different. Today, Sasuke pokes her forehead gently, smiles at her and promises he'd come back. And then the look in his warm, black eyes, eyes of a man who has been gifted with another chance to find happiness, changes. It lasts just a second or two, one soft gleam she isn't even sure if she hasn't imagined to have been there.

But when he says the word, just a simple "thank you", like all those years before… Sakura knows, she _feels_ just how much all she's ever done or just tried to do means to him and how grateful Sasuke is.

And she renews the oath deep in her heart to wait for him, always.

 **X**

There are times when any distance between them disappears, when they truly become one flesh and one soul and then, there is no way for Sakura to miss Sasuke's true feelings.

It's when they move passionately against one another, hot and tender and loving. It's in his strained grunts and the way his eyebrows crease, for once not quite to be controlled. She sees it in the eyes forced tight shut and the lips parting slightly when he gives his all to make this night yet another one to be looked back at with a knowing smirk shared only between the two of them.

"Sakura…" he whispers hoarsely just a moment before it happens, before he gives one final thrust and makes her see stars, clutching his body close, sticky and wet, moaning his name softly like a mantra and feeling small tears creep in her eyes she refuses to close, she never wants them to close, not when he's looking at her like that…

Like she was the most valuable thing that he is able to hold so close, as if he felt almost guilty for not being able to tell her how precious she is and so, Sasuke settles for doing everything in his might to _show_ her.

She kisses him gently to make him know she understands.

 **X**

When the fruit of their bond is born, it is another time Sasuke lets the dam break, the barrier that has only become smaller with every day they've spent together, with Sakura proud to be wearing the Uchiha crest on her back. The day their family gains a new member is bittersweet, as both of them know the happiness of being with one another won't last long, not with the potentially deadly mission he's been preparing for.

Sarada welcomes the world as a preemie and she is so very small and delicate that when Sakura asks if he'd like to hold their daughter, Sasuke hesitates. It's in his tense posture and the shadow of uncertainty in his eyes, the eyes that their child inherited and that are staring at her right now. Sarada doesn't cry. She's calm and very brave, just like her father.

"There, darling… She wants to meet you," Sakura smiles at her husband, she's tired and sleepy but so, so happy that she doubts her heart swelling with the mass of feelings would let her rest, anyway. Sasuke glances at her, lost and still unsure, but when she prompts him with an assuring nod of her head, his arms embrace the tiny human being with uttermost care.

"Hello," he croaks out, his orbs glossy and the most delicate smile gracing his features.

Sakura lets the tears flow down her face slowly and when his thumb brushes a few of them away gently, she only laughs, short and shaky, but so very joyful.

 **X**

She's worn out, both physically and mentally. She hasn't been forced to fight so much since the war ended, that's for one thing. The other is the whirl of emotions disturbing her, the fear for her family's lives, the happiness of a reunion so great it's come by as a shock to her whole system, the calm of having him by her side once again, the doubts and hopes mixing in a weird configuration not to be comprehended all at once in such a short amount of time.

Her hands glow lightly above her lover's chest, warm and healing. It's funny how she seems to have always played the role for him, not only when it has come to the damage of his body…

He still hadn't said a thing and she knows it's because, no matter how much he's opened up to her and everybody else with the years that have passed, Sasuke will always stay himself, awkward and sometimes overly serious. She's once heard it was like that with his father, too. Well, they say the apple never falls far from the tree, after all…

However, she feels he has something to say, she's learnt to be able to tell right away, and so, she waits patiently. She's never wanted to pressure him, especially when it comes to the words so important and so difficult to say.

"Sakura… I…" he tries finally, quiet and weak, only to be heard by her and nobody else but _her_. She meets his eyes and, like always, they mean so much more than any words could. They also say the eye is the mirror of the soul but it's only with Sasuke that the true meaning of this sentence is obvious to her.

"I know," she interrupts him gently and leans in slowly to plant a soft on his forehead.

And the one peaceful sigh is enough for her to be sure she's read his confession right once again.

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 **ZJeM, 29-30.06.15**

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 **From author:**

So, today "Naruto Gaiden" taught me Sasuke probably wasn't there when Sarada was born but I decided to leave it like this and not care. ;) (Also, my heart's eternally broken and I miss the manga so, so much already… *sigh*)

Did you like it? I tried so hard not to overdo it with the sweetness, I mean, with SS it's always been about the smallest, most beautiful details and not cliché romance… Did I succeed? :)

THANKS FOR READING!


	3. Day 3 - CARNIVAL

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is mine, except for the undying love for this ship, my OTP.

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 **A/N:** This is the most… interesting AU I've ever written. I hope it will flood you with feels as it did with me when I was writing.

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 **Day 3 –** _ **CARNIVAL**_

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She is magnificent. Splendid. The most beautiful thing his eyes have ever been given permission to see. It's as if since the day he was born, nothing has ever even been worth wasting the power of his eyes on, until he laid them upon her.

The girl moves like the flow of the wind, swift, graceful and fresh. Her red dress, the color of ripe raspberries, whirls in his eyes when he sees her hurry down the boulevard, a mystery gone too soon to be solved. She stands out from the colorful crowd, stealing the whole of his attention whenever their paths cross.

She's lean like a young twig, her pale complexion in contrast with long, black gloves that cover her arms up to the elbows. When he observes them move, be it her buying shiny bibelots from the mass of street vendors shouting all days long to attract customers, or when she accepts fruit from older ladies impressed with her beauty… The only thing he can think of is what he would be ready to give anytime to be able to slide them down, slowly, and gently kiss the softness of the skin of her hands.

Whenever she smiles, peace fills his heart, slowing it down to the rhythm of what he imagines to be her breathing. Every night, he dreams of waking up by her side and seeing for himself if what his imagination has come up with is true. He wants to hold her in his arms and feel her living form, sense the warmth of her body and smell nothing more than the sweet aroma of the one that has stolen his heart, cruel and merciless…

Hope is what he feels when she follows her mother's calls and comes close, pink hair pulled by the breeze, carefree, the picture of sweet youth of her being. His breath quickens, shallow inhales and clunky exhales, when it gets to him that, out of all people, they have really chosen it to be _him_ , this time…

When she is ready to get on is when the gold ornaments of her fine _Colombina_ mask turn to the side for the green of her eyes to meet the onyx of his and air catches in his throat when he stares, lost in the moment. Those few seconds of his scabby, orphan's life he'd want to last an eternity. Curiosity and kindness gleam in her orbs and when he helps her on board, frozen by the mere sensation of that one single touch, is the moment he _almost_ gives in to the insolent voice in his head that tells him to return her smile…

" _Basilica di San Marco,_ " the older woman's harsh voice gets to him like a sound from a nightmare, destroying every delusion. Sasuke lets go of his love's hand and grabs the oar, turning away from the sting of pain he must have imagined to have crossed her beautiful features. He hides his face in the hat's shade and waits for the pain of regret to return, his one and only eternal companion.

" _Si, signora…_ " he mutters, barely as much as unclenching his jaws in fear of his voice breaking against his will.

But what can he do?

Sasuke Uchiha is a simple gondolier. All he can get is driving the only woman that will forever stay in his heart, Sakura Haruno, the daughter of Venice's most famous noble family, to her wedding.

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 **ZJeM, 01.07.15**

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 **From author:**

A lot shorter than the other two, this one was supposed to just fill in the slot for Day 3, but has affected me way more than I'd imagined it would…

How did you like it, dear readers? :) (Also, to anybody that has reviewed but hasn't received my reply: THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! I'm experiencing some problems with the whole reviewing system and whenever this one's fixed, I'll be sure to thank you in person! ;))

THANKS FOR READING!


	4. Day 4 - THE GAMES WE PLAY

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is mine, except for the undying love for this ship, my OTP.

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 **A/N:** Posting today because I'll be away all weekend. Also, if I write anything for Day 5, please expect it on Monday. ;)

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 **Day 4 –** _ **THE GAMES WE PLAY**_

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He takes off his shoes, careful not to destroy the order she's made. His feet touch the wooden panels and Sasuke takes the room in his sight – bright walls, sunlight filling the air of a cheerful, hopeful summer. The floor is clean and smooth, yet a bit shabby in few places, proving that the house is, in fact, inhabited, however new it is. He takes a deep breath and lets the most important detail sink in. Only one pair of sandals next to his…

"I'm home…"

The man walks down the corridor slowly, he hasn't been home in a while and has to take his time to recognize the place. He opens one door, taking a quick peek inside, and freezes in place for a second before his posture relaxes, having understood the image spotted by his keen eyes of powers famous in the entire shinobi world. He walks in, his gaze soft at the Uchiha crest on the wall and his parents and brother's photos on the small altar covered in fresh flowers and other offerings. He kneels in front of his late relatives and clasps his hands together in sign of love and respect. He wishes they were with him right now. He regrets his mother not having a chance to fuss over her granddaughter and his father unable to praise Sarada's fire techniques. There are so many things he'd want to be able to say to Itachi…

He hears somebody shuffle around down the corridor and leaves the homely shrine of the first people he has ever loved so dearly… He hopes to reunite with his new family when he enters the last room on the left, where the noise comes from. He doesn't regret the walk.

Sakura stands in front of a cupboard, stubborn to reach one of the upper shelves by straining the tips of her toes and not using a chair to help herself. She mutters angrily under her breath, clad in an apron that doesn't cover his, _their_ clan's symbol standing out proudly from the back of her knee-length dress that looks undoubtedly similar to the hospital outfit he's seen her wear when she didn't have time to change after work. Her hair is in a mess, her forearms dirtied with flour and just staring like her like that, Sasuke can't help but let a delicate smile onto his face.

He walks up to her silently, though she has surely sensed his presence already. It's strange, actually, that she still hasn't given him any clue as to if his appearance is already known to her… No words of greeting..? Nothing..? It wouldn't be like Sakura.

Sasuke easily takes the box out of the cupboard and places it next to them, eager to see the look in the eyes he's missed so much. What he gets, however, is nothing he could have expected.

Sakura ignores him. She moves to the sink and washes her hands, not even casting a glance at her husband. Sasuke frowns but doesn't let that confuse him, still. She probably just wanted to greet him properly and not halfway through the cooking.

Lean fingers move to put single strands of pink hair behind her ear and Sakura finally turns to him, making his heartbeat fasten just a few beats at a time and his heart shift slightly with the warmth of a belated homecoming…

What startles him is the look in her eyes, cold and angry, lasting only half a moment before she returns to the counter to cut some vegetables up, this time. The knife's moves are skillful, firm and fast, while all Sasuke can think of is what could have made his wife so… So not like herself.

"Sakura… What..?" he tries quietly, gently, taking one hesitant step in her direction but halting in place at the sight of the knife's tip pointed at his heart and the murderous gleam in the green, green orbs he can't help but adore even with their deadly stare being, as it seems, directly a result of something he's done. What could that have been-?

" _Now_ you want the affection, huh?" she snarls viciously, shaking her head no and furiously beheading an innocent carrot. Her eyebrows are creased, eyes narrow, lips in a pout. Sasuke's features darken. He doesn't understand what it's about, doesn't even remember anything he did that could have hurt her so much…

But he can't stand it like this. He can't accept anything that causes her to change her usual, kind state of being so much, that has her become so distant and full of offence, just like… Just like he once was. He owes his life, who he is now to his friends and the women in front of him. Sakura once said he would definitely find happiness with her. She kept her promise.

And he would rather take all the hurt back to himself than betray the trust she's put in him as the one staying proudly by her side in the process of formation of their family.

Sasuke is fast to take the knife away from her and grab Sakura's hand, surprising her so much that she doesn't even protest when he presses his body to hers, one arm holding her tight in the small of her back and the other embracing her neck while his cheek seeks hiding in her hair. Sweet smell of cherry and something like a hospital bed rules over his senses, the scent of nothing but _home_ …

"I'm sorry…" he whispers in her ear and waits, tense and guilty, for what he imagines feels like an entire eternity, until…

He feels small hands move slowly up his back and Sakura shifts in his hold, returning the hug.

"You don't even know what it's about, do you? But… Why saying hello when you didn't even say goodbye..?" he hears her playful answer and with the way his heart unclenches and the knot in his gut loosens, it gets to him, once again, that nobody would ever be able to affect his feelings so much but the two women of his life – his only true partner, Sakura, and the proof of their unbreakable bond, Sarada. Sasuke smirks, relieved when he finally understands.

He leans back just as much as to see her cheeks reddened and teeth flashing in a smile of victory. Sakura has played with him all the time, hasn't she? But, Sasuke isn't a man of the kind to claim defeat so easily…

He moves suddenly for his lips to catch hers and it works, judging from the gasp of wonderment that tries to escape her mouth before he gives it no more freedom, making her cling to him with newly found enthusiasm for the sweet moment of their kiss.

* * *

 **ZJeM, 02.07.15**

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 **From author:**

I hope it's clear enough that this one was inspired by the last chapter of "Naruto Gaiden"..? I bet it is. ;)

I guess Sasuke isn't too OOC… I think I managed to keep him in his usual collected shape but do tell me, did I succeed or is it just my foolish imagination? ;)

THANKS FOR READING!


	5. Day 5 - TEST

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is mine, except for the undying love for this ship, my OTP.

* * *

 **A/N:** Sorry I'm late, badass road trip with BFFs happened, so... Back to the story! I know, this topic has been used by just about every SS fan there has ever been, right? But it's my first time, I am allowed to rewrite it on my own, I guess... ;) Please enjoy!

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 **Day 5 –** _ **TEST**_

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Sakura has done all in her power to protect them. Hell, she's done a lot more, has pushed the boundaries of her own strength, strained herself to her limit for the cause of stopping Team Dosu from wiping any sign of Team 7's existence from the Earth's surface! And yet, despite her desperate effort..!

That Zaku guy, the loudest one, with spiky, black hair, strikes another blow at her head, bruised and bleeding and hurting from the constant beating. "Let-! Go-! Bitch!" he growls angrily, must have not predicted that this weak, small girl would have fought so stubbornly. Sakura refuses to let go of his arm, her jaws are beginning to ache and her vision is blurry from the pain and the merciless fatigue, but, for once, it is her being the savior and not Naruto nor Sasuke and she'd rather let herself be killed than betray her resolution to be worthy of standing proudly by their side, as an equal.

And so, she digs her teeth hard into the enemy's flesh. She doesn't let go, even when her body gives up. Her mind still hasn't called it quits, even when she finds herself laying in the dirt, vulnerable and defeated, with physical force not enough to do barely as much as stand up, not even mentioning continuing to fight. Sakura's body may be done, but it doesn't mean she'll stop it with the glare of fury, the fire in her eyes that is born from the care she bears for her teammates.

She doesn't mind it when Ino and the rest of her team appear in front of her, ready to take the lead. Instead, she's smiling. Smiling because, for once, she can retreat without feeling like a complete failure, without fearing that what she has done hasn't been enough. It has. They are all still alive. And now her objective in this fight changes, she is going to give the field to Team 10 and stay with Naruto and Sasuke.

Sakura hears somebody shuffle somewhere near her friend and her love are and turns around, wary, alarmed, afraid of yet another threat to face, with the fight still not won... When she sees Sasuke standing up, the first thing she feels is overwhelming relief – he has woken up, finally! He's going to be ok! "Sasuke-kun, you woke up..!" but the joy is gone as soon as it appears when who, or _what_ she is looking at truly gets to her senses…

It feels like evil. Sasuke-kun feels like evil.

"Sakura…" he is clad in a purple aura that looks like flames and the left side of his body is covered with strange black marks that look like a seal of some kind. But it's not that what makes her truly terrified. "Who did this to you..?" What makes her question what she has ever felt for the boy in front of her, that makes the tiniest part of herself lose the faith she's had in him, is the look in Sasuke's eyes…

It doesn't even seem like his. It's freezing cold and dark, like made of a red ocean of pure, boiling hatred.

But… It's still Sasuke… Right..?

She ignores just how dry her throat is and says, "Sasuke-kun… Your body…" She wants to hear it from him. She wants to hear him say it's alright, that he is fine. That he is still himself and that nagging voice that screams at her to run away is just a foolish animalistic instinct, as she has nothing to afraid of. He is Sasuke Uchiha and she is Sakura Haruno, there's no way they would have to ever part their ways because of any reason…

But when she hears his answer, the monster of anxiety in her chest only grows, even more hungry for the context of the deepest chambers of her heart.

"Don't worry," he says. Yet it does nothing but make her more worried, with the emotionless voice he has and the well-worn phrase he uses. How can she not worry, with him being so not like himself?! "More importantly," Sasuke adds, his eyes not even meeting her confused gaze but staring right at their foes, piercing and challenging, "I can feel power surging inside of me. I'm feeling good right now," he clenches his fist and she shivers. She wants to believe him, she desperately searches for believing… But she doesn't find it. And the next thing he says, quiet and distant, makes her understand. And that realization paralyzes her even more with terror.

" _He gave it to me…_ "

He. Orochimaru.

 **X**

"That leaves just you," Sasuke calls, cruel irony in his voice, and it gets to her like through a thick cloud of deny. Sakura has just seen him break her previous oppressor's arms in a way so savage, even more so that the grotesque curve of his mouth right now indicates that he has actually felt some kind of sadistic pleasure from bringing the other one so much pain... Zaku is an enemy. He has tried to kill them all. However, Sakura knows, as a Konoha ninja and as a human being, that punishing him the way Sasuke has done…

It's something only a psychopath has no reluctance to do to another person.

"You better entertain me better than him," Sasuke walks by her and she wants to shout, to grab his hand and make him stop, to make him go back to who he really is-! Sakura's lips hardly as much as move, her body still with the weight of fear and hesitance staying shadows at the feelings she has thought were eternal. When she watches him go up to the only Sound ninja left, it's not just a picture of Sasuke getting away from her. It feels like all of the love and affection is being dragged out of her behind him, with only a thin red ribbon struggling to keep it inside.

Who is that person? Is he really Sasuke? Has it all been just a dream? Is he not who she has always thought he is?

Does she even love him, still..?

 _This isn't…_

Suddenly, the images of him flood her mind. The pictures of his collected features… All of the precious memories she holds of the time they've spent together... The familiar look in the onyx orbs she adores… The Sasuke… The Sasuke-kun…

 _This isn't…_

The strength of another kind fills her. The power of feelings so strong they would never be made disappear. The faith, unbreakable trust… Unbreakable bond…

Love.

 _This isn't the Sasuke-kun I know!_

A single tear flows down her cheek but she doesn't even notice, anymore.

"Stop!"

 **X**

She hold him close, grips the front of his shirt hard, as if her life depended on it. Convulsive sobs shake her body with the might that only gives its seat to the intensity of her heartbeat, fast and hopeless like a little bird that has only started to learn to fly. Sakura feels Sasuke's being with all her senses. She hears his steady breathing and feels his chest go up and down with calm ventilation. Sasuke smells like the forest bedding he's been laying on. She sees that crimson-red gleam of the fell, unfamiliar Sharingan…

But what she really hopes to see, to hear him say, to sense _at all_ , is the confirmation she so frantically craves. That Sasuke is still the one she's learnt to love.

"Please… Stop…"

And when she almost feels her heart shatter into a million tiny pieces not to be bend, when it's deadly quiet and nobody, nothing seems to be living at all anymore, when it's as if it were just the two of them, staring into each other's eyes to no end, with Sakura's hope slowly dying inside of her…

The seal retreats. Slowly, it gives back parts of Sasuke's body, one after another. It gives back parts of his consciousness, at last.

"Sasuke-kun…" leaves her on its own, merely a whisper of glee full of tiredness, when she supports his fall to the ground. She still can't smile at him with ease, not with the darkness she knows is still hung upon him, with Orochimaru ready to do anything to get him, this way or another. However… What she also knows is that the light she keeps deep in her heart is not something to be underestimated. She has learnt that, for him, she is ready to face any shadow.

Her love has stood the trial...

* * *

 **ZJeM, 06.07.15**

* * *

 **From author:**

I'm sorry to say there probably won't be any chapter for the prompt for Day 6, as I just can't seem to think of anything cool enough for "Skin Deep"… But please wait for other days, I'll surely try to make it up to the SSMonth, somehow! :)

You know, I am well aware that, when we look at the timeline, this isn't the first ever SS scene in "Naruto", but… If I remember correctly, it's the first one that has truly shaken me to the core. I'm so happy to have been able to pay my respect to the wonderful moment that has, I'm sure of it, helped so much in making me fall in love with this couple.

And how did _you_ like this chapter? ;)

THANKS FOR READING!


	6. Day 7 - MORTALITY

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is mine, except for the undying love for this ship, my OTP.

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm late again… You know, I was actually going to skip this prompt and go on, but then the idea struck me and I couldn't just give up like that. ;) Please enjoy!

* * *

 **Day 7 –** _ **MORTALITY**_

* * *

"Why? Why?!" Naruto's speech is weirdly quiet, muffled, as if he weren't standing right next to him but somewhere far, far away… "Why did you protect me..?!" it's difficult to even hear the sounds, the voice Sasuke should have got to know a lot better by now, so it wouldn't feel so much like belonging to a stranger… And yet at the same time, it seems to be the only thing still managing to keep him from passing out, that bizarre talk of theirs…

He smirks. It isn't even the dull ache (that has been gone for a while) nor the sight of bleeding wounds placed all over his body, but the feeling he has, that he's not really who he's always been, that makes him realize – that's it. Sasuke feels more and more like a shadow of the person he's used to be and that, that is the proof enough…

"I didn't ask you to!" the blond Knucklehead Ninja screams, desperate, and if he had enough strength and his head wasn't so fuzzy, Sasuke would have laughed at the irony. Him, who have always quarreled with the Uchiha… Why doesn't he even try to act all tough and mighty, like always? Does he, maybe, see that it's over..? Does he let his soft side out, to the daylight, in the middle of the most difficult battle of their lives so far..?

Stupid…

"Who knows…" he whispers, faint and short, he doesn't quite know how much time he has left so he doesn't even try for a pompous answer, "My body moved on its own accord, idiot…" is all Sasuke can say before his vision goes black for a second and the next few things he sees and hears himself say are nothing but a blur, a memory of a ghostly being he feels himself subdue into…

Everything but the heat of orange flame-like chakra and an animal's furious growl.

 **X**

"Welcome home," when he opens his eyes, Sasuke finds himself in a place so familiar, a house he's known all his life… With people he's missed for so long he can't even comprehend how so much pain hasn't killed him, still, over the years…

But… Why does it feel as if he had a hole in his heart whenever he lays his eyes upon his family when they are all here, right in front of his eyes..? Where they are always supposed to stay…

His mother is disposing of her favorite apron and smiles at him, warm and loving and kind, motioning for himself to take a sit. Sasuke does, almost jumps from the door to the table set for another dinner of the Uchiha family. He chooses to sit next to his father, who doesn't take his eyes off him, for once, his expression almost that one similar to an acknowledging smirk of his. And Itachi…

"There you go, Sasuke," his brother calls to him, softly, waiting for Sasuke to take a bowl of rice from his hand.

It's the best moment he can think of, one to join the set of the sweetest memories in his mind, yet…

The boy can't help but worry about that nagging, cold sensation of murk inside of him… What is he missing..?

"C'mon, it's going to get cold," Itachi laughs and he hesitates, not sure why it doesn't actually feel right to accept the offering. However, when he takes the closest people he has all in his sight again, all at once, smiling, their black eyes the color of these his own bright with happiness, when the burning want for this to stay like that forever doesn't retreat but only grows stronger…

Sasuke touches the bowl with the tips of his fingers and reaches to grab it…

"Sasuke-kun…" a noiseless whimper pierces through his skull like a cold blade, sending a shiver down his spine. He's never heard so much sadness in a single sound, so much of an unbearable loss… And he can't get rid of the feeling that it's similar to what is down there, in the darkest, most secure chambers of his heart…

When he turns to the side to search for the source of the sound, he sees a small girl. She looks older than him but younger than his brother… Maybe she's just graduated the Academy..? That she has, he is sure of, she's wearing a Konoha ninja headband at the top of her head of fair pink hair. And her eyes… She looks like she's been crying, the vivid green orbs are glassy and there are wet marks at her cheeks and down to the sides of her chin. The girl seems so broken that Sasuke can't help but ache deep inside in compassion…

"How do you… How do you know my name..?" he asks, quietly, taking a quick, confirmatory glance at his brother and his parents, but they are all calm, undisturbed, like this strange guest has been meant to visit, and so, he goes back to the girl with the eyes so full of sorrow that it almost scares him. The pink-haired kunoichi stares at him, forcing a weak smile onto her face and shaking her head slowly. Then, she reaches out in a gesture that makes him think she wants to grab his hand.

"Please come with me, Sasuke-kun… You don't belong here. Not yet," she only says, pleading for him to make the move. His eyes widen and he wants to protest but the black in his heart has come down to his stomach now at he's not in the power to deny its existence, anymore… He looks down, at her hand, then back into her pleading eyes and, finally, at the whole of his closest family, at the people that are supposed to be them but…

They are not. It's not true. His real family is long gone, he suddenly remembers…

And when his eyes meet the girl's (her name is Sakura, he knows it) one more time, he makes the decision. He stands up, ignoring the ache from numerous holes with needles piercing his body and slowly walks up to her. He's not sure why, but the short sob of relief and another tear sliding down her cheek are enough to make him sure he's going _back_ and not running _away_ …

His fingers close at hers and blinding light takes away the power of his eyes.

 **X**

"Sakura, you're heavy…" when she hears him speak, the said girl's head jerks up and she stares at him, eyes wide in disbelief, before, just a second later she grabs him and pulls him to herself tight, crying and choking at his name one time after another. But for once, he doesn't quite care for the intimate closure, not even for the pain it causes.

People are only animals and when their bodies are at their limits, they die. Just like that. Everything that stays are memories, and the close ones that are left alone in life-long suffering.

But even though Sasuke knows he's mortal, too… Today, Sakura showed him that, thanks to her, he will never fade into oblivion, as long as she lives.

And for that, he can't help but be grateful to her for.

* * *

 **ZJeM, 08.07.15**

* * *

 **From author:**

Did you like it? Did you hate it? There's nothing I'm dying to add to this one, so I'll just leave this humble request for any feedback and get back to writing… ;)

THANKS FOR READING!


	7. Day 9 - TRAUMA

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is mine, except for the undying love for this ship, my OTP.

* * *

 **Day 9 –** _ **TRAUMA**_

* * *

She woke up, got ready in record time and run straight to the place she's been spending more time at than anywhere else, even more than at her own house. The place she has been giving her all at for the one purpose that has never been so important in her life but now – getting stronger. And so, Sakura reads numerous wise books, some of them so huge it's even hard to flip the pages. She sometimes faints from exhaustion because of the crazy level of concentration she has to achieve to make the best of her chakra control and be able to save lives, as well as land blows so heavy they could even become deadly, one day.

And all this she does because of one simple reason. She hopes desperately not to feel worthless, not to die inside slowly, forever in anticipation. This time, Sakura wants to take action, do it by her own hands. She wants to stand side by side with Naruto and save him.

To bring Sasuke back to the village, this has become the girl's main objective.

Almost every night, she wakes up from a dream that seems so real it's impossible not to be fooled she's forced to experience the pain of that night once again. She whimpers and tosses round the bed as she watches him go over and over again, sees him so close for the last time and hears the playful note in his voice when he calls her annoying.

Sakura can't stand it. She can't ever accept the feeling of helplessness she had then and that is repeated in her dreams, like an eternal scar in her heart, a bleeding wound not to be fought any other way than doing something, _anything_ , taking on the unbearable struggle and hoping, believing it will be enough, someday, when him and her will be able to meet again.

But even though the nightmares plague her so often and so regularly, she almost never cries. She clenches her teeth and gets back to work, throwing them out of her memory and instead further increasing the harshness of her training under Tsunade.

The only times tears fall from her eyes, hot and unstoppable, is when the worst truth gets to her, the actual anguish that weighs down on her like a reaper waiting for its share of souls.

It is when she remembers his last words to her… Sasuke's last soft, quiet goodbye…

" _Sakura… Thank you…"_

What hurts her the most is being unable to hate him for leaving her like this, on a bench, at night, completely alone and forgotten. It is that Sasuke _cares_ enough to acknowledge his gratefulness that stays the coldest shard of glass in her memory.

They say lost love is the feeling that hurts you the most…. Sakura knows it's the hope that comes with it not being yet over that is its sharpest weapon…

The girl shakes her head sharply, forcing herself out from the lane of painful memories and jumping down from the window sill. She has no time to be thinking about that. She will fight. She will do everything, defeat any obstacle that will stand in her way, to reunite with him.

And she won't let anything stop her, not even her own trauma of having let him go.

* * *

 **ZJeM, 09.07.15**

* * *

 **From author:**

This one is, as you can see, another drabble of the shortest kind… I hope you like it, still… ;)

More importantly, I got a guest review for which I'm unbelievably thankful, as it considered "Naruto Gaiden", and so, the SasuSaku canon:

" _i love your stories i just want to correct you sasuke was there for sarada birth him and sakura travel together and she gave birth in karin hideout it was mistranslation from both mangapanda and mangastream viz and the raws confirm it"_

And I checked out he raws and though I still have one line of Karin's speech to understand that seems important to me but I have yet to fight with the scan's quality and my poor knowledge of Japanese… This information just makes me so happy and I shall thank you so very much, dear Guest! :3

THANKS FOR READING!


	8. Day 10 - HAIRCUT

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is mine, except for the undying love for this ship, my OTP.

* * *

 **I'd like to thank** _ **sarantina**_ **for their kind review, as I can't do it personally!**

* * *

 **Day 10 –** _ **HAIRCUT**_

* * *

The lady is very pretty. She looks like a princess, Sakura has heard about them from her mom's stories. She is smiling a kind smile, even though it's just the vegetable seller in one of the busy streets of Konoha and not a powerful king of a neighboring country. Her dress is simple, dark material with a white and red fan on the back, but the girl doesn't remember the last time somebody has seemed so breathtakingly dignified to her. But what really keeps her sight fastened still on the woman is her hair…

It's nothing extraordinary, just long wisps let loose and shorter bangs at the sides of her face. It's the color of the dark, matching the onyx eyes of the princess lady. Yet with every move of them, with every time wind plays with the soft, glossy locks, Sakura's eyes shine bright in adoration.

She takes a bunch of pink strands, short and sticking out in every direction, in between two fingers, eyeing them critically. The girl pouts a bit, unimpressed, and glances at the beautiful woman once again, before being dragged by her parents down the street. She giggles to herself, having made the decision.

When she grows up, she wants to have hair as lovely as the mysterious shopping lady has.

 **X**

Sakura stares herself down in the mirror, a merciless judge only teenagers like herself can be for their looks. The girl examines herself carefully before she will head to the Academy. She has to look perfect, after all, it's where she is going to meet Sasuke! She has to be ready to impress him and make him return her feelings!

Her sight wanders over her slim figure, she has yet to be blessed with womanly curves but it will do like that for now, hopefully… When her eyes are laid upon the curtain of carefully combed, healthy and strong hair of an unusual color, Sakura grins.

" _Did you know?! Sasuke-kun likes girls with long hair!"_ when somebody, she doesn't quite even remember now who that person was, spread the exciting news in the group of all female students, the pink-haired girl's resolution from years before grew in strength even more. Since then, the goal has stayed the same but the cause changed.

Sakura will grow her hair long and pretty, like the princess lady, but this time, it will get her the boy of her dreams!

 **X**

The cuts are quick and smooth. Pink hair fall to the ground one by one, ruining all the effort Sakura has put in trying her best to keep them the way Sasuke is supposed to prefer. But, somehow, she is calm, undisturbed by their loss.

"Now you don't have your long hair to tempt Sasuke-kun, Forehead!" Ino snorts sarcastically in her ear, still sulking about Sakura having hugged their mutual object of affection, and seeming to be obtaining great pleasure from taking the trump card of the race of romance away from her rival. She doesn't have to worry about what will become of her looks when the blonde kunoichi is done, though – they may be after the same man, but neither of them wants the fight to be unfair and they wouldn't even think about humiliating the other. That's just how Konoha kunoichi are!

But, seriously considering the taunt… It _is_ true that Sasuke is said to like longer hair better and every girl that has ever thought about getting noticed by him knew the rule – if you want the Uchiha for yourself, the least you have to do is grow your hair! Be it just a stupid gossip or were there a shred of truth, every one of them craves to increase her chances, so why not try it, if it could work? And now, Sakura has lost what advantage she's been holding onto for all those years! However…

"You're right," she answers, smiling to herself when she looks at the boys, Shikamaru and Chõji arguing with Naruto and Sasuke staying back, like always, absorbed in his own mysterious thoughts she'd want to hear about, if he ever let her that close… "But you know what..? I don't mind," she adds, surprising Ino, judging from the slight of hesitance in the moves of the kunai.

How could Sakura worry about her hair right now? Having them cut was the price she paid for standing back up, proud, for once becoming the savior, instead of being saved. She proved her own strength and determination, proved the force of her feelings for Sasuke, feelings she has even for the stupid, irritating Naruto! She fought for their lives with all her might, one weak, tired little girl against a group of skilled subordinates of Orochimaru himself. If it weren't for her struggle, if she'd given up and just ended up in tears, like usual, they would have been the last ones she's ever shed. But she did it. It is also thanks to her that they are all still alive and ready to face whatever danger waits for them next…

And somehow, she feels even the princess lady would have praised her for what she's done…

* * *

 **ZJeM, 09.07.15**

* * *

 **From author:**

I hope this shortie did what it was supposed to and proved, however much, much longer the story could have been, just how much Sakura's character developed up until that moment during the Chũnin Exam… I agree that, throughout all the series, even in Part II, she could get unreasonable and annoying, mostly for people who don't love her as much as I and other Queen Haruno fans do. However, what makes me adore her so much is seeing the beautiful flower of her character bloom, slowly, one important scene after the other…

I hope it's clear enough that the princess lady is Mikoto..?

Also, I'm sorry if the ending seems weird, I run out of steam when writing it and just wanted to finish this drabble today [Thursday] because tomorrow [Friday] is the day of anticipation, stress and, hopefully, excitement, when I'll know if I got into the uni of my dreams, so… I don't know if I'll be in mental power to do anything, ahhahaha… Yeah…

Remember, when you review, our sweetest little princess, Sarada-chan, smiles! ;3

THANKS FOR READING!


	9. Day 13 - 2AM

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is mine, except for the undying love for this ship, my OTP.

* * *

 **AN:** Sorry I'm late ( _again_ )! I was out of town yesterday to get my documents to the uni… YES, I GOT IN! :3 In October, I'm going begin the tough but wonderful road with studying medicine! I'm super excited and hyped up! :'D Anyway, regarding the story – this one's a continuation for the chapter for Day 14, so if you care about sticking to timeline, please read the next one first. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Day 13 –** _ **2AM**_

* * *

Sasuke wakes up suddenly, having the weirdest feeling that something is not how it's supposed to be but also like it were finally how he's waited for it to become for the longest time… He's feeling calm and it's a sensation he hasn't had in his heart for the great part of his life, as sad as it is. The man finds himself in warm, soft sheets. The room is dark and only dim rays of moonlight shine lightly at what his eyes learn to mark as the skin of his chest, after a few moments of getting accustomed to the night. And when they regain their power to its fullest possible level at this late hour ( _what time is it? 3AM, 2AM?_ ), another shape's presence gets to him and every single moment of the last evening hits him all at once.

 _The aching desire of two, the mutual fight for release, the bliss of the ultimate reunion…_

His sharp, dark eyes soften while Sasuke watches Sakura's back move slowly with her peaceful breathing. The light plays in the pink wisps of her hair, messy and scattered all over the pillow. Shadows highlight the beauty of the shapely curvature of the back and the side of her body, the beauty he was given permission to hold close, to worship as his for he, _and him only_ , was granted the chance to explore and map it in the sensible dance of closure…

But it's not her looks that make him look at the woman as if she were the most precious thing in the entire universe. It's every feeling he has for her. The gratitude for her faithfulness over all those crazily difficult years. The acknowledgement of her admirable strength and having become the person she is today in spite of the picture of weakness she once was. The warmth that quiets down cruel storms inside of him, whenever he feels like he's never going to belong anywhere, anymore. The feeling… The feeling of having found home once again, with her.

Sasuke smiles delicately and gently kisses Sakura's shoulder, careful not to wake her up when he locks her safe in his loving embrace once again. He buries his face in her hair and closes his eyes, for once sure of the morning he will wake up on to be good… He is where he wants to stay. She is here with him.

Maybe he's bad with words and can't quite comprehend the whole of his feelings himself but this one heat in his heart he is sure will always stay the only thing he'll ever need.

* * *

 **ZJeM, 14.07.15**

* * *

 **From author:**

Short but, hopefully, entertaining! ;) I was afraid of making Sasuke cheesy and overly emotional and decided it'd be the best not to balance on the fine line of making it longer. I'm not a good enough writer when it comes to him and an OOC Sasuke is the worst doing ever!

THANKS FOR READING!


	10. Day 14 - HUNGER

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is mine, except for the undying love for this ship, my OTP.

* * *

 **Day 14 –** _ **HUNGER**_

* * *

When he first catches himself not being able to stop staring, she's healing one of the common patients. Bleeding cuts and bruises. Mission emergency. Nothing unusual and certainly not anything that would match the fullest of her potential and be a truly rewarding challenge.

Yet when she moves, so quick and certain in her doing, when she shouts orders at the nurses and begins it with the jutsu, green light glowing hollowly at the frown on her face and the emerald eyes gleaming in focus and unbeaten determination, he can't quite bring himself to get out of the room already, like he's been supposed to long before, when she has finished his injury check-up.

Sasuke keeps standing where he has, watching his former teammate with awe, unable to answer the question that keeps repeating itself in his head of just _when_ has that weak, small girl he remembers well become this confident, strong young woman right before his eyes, with only the same old pink wisps proving it's still the same Sakura he has known all those years ago.

When he's looking at her like that, he faintly realizes a feeling of a new kind occupy his mind, the darkest chamber of it that he's rarely ever got to know the content of. Sasuke has always been a man of urges – the urge to be acknowledged by his father, to become like his brother, the obsessive craving for revenge for different causes and, finally, the want for peace Naruto has convinced him to work together for. But the dark mass that crawls inside of him this time is an uneasiness of another kind, the one he hasn't yet been able to truly examine.

And the only time the monster wakes up is when _she_ is near…

 **X**

Wherever he has found himself in is dark, so very much he can't even see as far away as to the tips of his fingers when he stretches his arm in front of himself. Sasuke is completely blindfolded and still, until… Until light pink flashes before his eyes for a second… Blurry green of fire follows seconds after, the color of cold stone in contrast to the heat it holds…

Then a single sound is heard by him, muffled and soft, like a quiet whimper of pain but somehow, when the moans come into letters and then into his name, he can't even imagine the person who makes the noise to be experiencing simply any form of hurt. Quite the opposite…

What he touches is delicate and warm, damp and sticky and pressing harder against his fingers with every careful touch they apply to its curves. Every change of their track, or the sudden dose of pressure he just wants to try out, cause the two earlier sensations to grow in strength, the sounds to become more strained and desperate and the images, the bizarre lights, to flood his eyes with one wave of flickering rays after the other…

Sweetness fills his nostrils with a caress of an unusual kind, a mixture of humanly scent and flower aroma and he doesn't understand why it doesn't bother him to sink himself fully into it… He's not supposed to like anything that's sweet, sweet food, sweet smells… But this one is something else entirely, like an unknown, nasty drug, making him not fed up with itself but craving for more and more with every greedy intake of heated air…

His tongue touches the living surface his fingers have got to know so well and the moment it makes contact, every single one of his senses goes wild, completely crazy. Sasuke is blinded with the strangely familiar lights, hears nothing but the nagging, repeated chokes of the voice calling him, feels the body of hers with every cell of his own and smells, and feels and _lives_ whole with the hunger-!

When he wakes up from the dream intense like he's long not have, Sasuke is drenched with sweat, breathing heavily and aching from the build up tension, but he _knows_ , he's finally understood… An he's not sure if the knowledge gives him relief more than it terrifies him.

 _Sakura_ …

 **X**

The man walks slowly up the stairs, looking anywhere but the woman leading him further to her apartment and instead forcing himself not to feel anything but the weight of the box of books with data on some of the patients he's been helping her transport from the hospital. His throat is tight with the gag of words he doesn't want to spill, he's not yet ready to say them, he doesn't even know _how_ …

"We're here," she chirps happily, placing the box of hers on the floor and taking the other one from his hands, and he's careful not to let their fingers touch because if they _did_ … "Thank you for the help, Sasuke-kun," she smiles at him and it makes him nauseous, painfully aware of the throbbing sensations placed all over him, especially _that_ one special spot…

He hates it. Hates the heaviness placed upon his body and soul. Hates not being able to deal with it the way he normally would do but it's not possible, not this time, when it's about the two of them and it isn't only his decision to make and when-

"Sasuke-kun..?" when he blinks, Sakura has come just a step or two closer, it's obvious that she's worried about the strange behavior of his and that care makes it even worse for him, makes him warm inside, on top of the crawling, the itching… He looks straight into her eyes, the eyes he's seen in the dreams of his, the narcotic visions of demonic urges he's been slowly losing any control of. She is startled, for a single blink of an eye, until it's his turn to be surprised when the smile slowly creeps its way away from her ( _oh so familiar_ ) features and the look in her eyes changes, reminding him of the animalistic madness he's seen glints of when he's looked in the mirror.

And then it gets to him just _where_ they are… Her bedroom.

"Sasuke-kun…" she murmurs, blushing some but unstoppable in the weird, hurried pace of slow motion to the place in which he's sure she can feel his furious heartbeat just about under her skin. She takes a quick peek down, at the remaining nothingness of the space between them, returning his stare once again alongside her hand reaching up to caress the tightness of the line of his jaw. He groans, quietly, from somewhere deep and dark inside his chest, for a moment so astonished at the unfamiliar tone of plea in his voice that it almost escapes his attention how Sakura carefully wraps her arms around his neck and melts the slim of her skilful fingers with the untamed, black spikes of his hair.

As if even unaware of the instinctive doing of his, Sasuke pulls her even closer and feels her sped up breathing against his chest just before he can't take it anymore and, in the time of a single beat of their hearts, reaches out with his chapped lips for her mouth like it were the water his tired body has sough for so hopelessly.

After this, the dam finally breaks, making it not Sasuke and Sakura anymore, but two souls in one body, inevitably turning the paths of their lives upside down, forever…

Or maybe it isn't really a change, but the only way for him to ever truly come home again..?

* * *

 **ZJeM, 13-14.07.15**

* * *

 **From author:**

When I grow up, I want to become a super badass medic like Sakura. ;)

So… I've never found myself a particularly great author for writing smut but I hope it was at least decently entertaining to you all..?

THANKS FOR READING!


	11. Day 19 - BLOOD

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is mine, except for the undying love for this ship, my OTP.

* * *

 **A/N:** Guess what?! Nah, it's only me being late AGAIN… ;)

* * *

 **Day 19 –** _ **BLOOD**_

* * *

Girl's short shriek of pain makes her alert, sharpens her senses, makes her heart beat faster when Sakura hurries down the corridors to deal with whatever it is that has hurt her daughter. If needed, she is always ready to fight and beat the hell out of anybody that has even thought of as much as _touching_ Sarada! Frown of worry stays heavy on her forehead as she smacks the door open, an entrance to the room she is sure the cry of ache has come from.

Strange, Sakura doesn't know what would the girl be doing in her mother's bedroom…

"Sarada!" she shouts, her eyes keen and fast in the search for the picture of one of the people she's ever loved most in her entire life, her baby girl, and when her sight is finally laid upon who she's been looking for, for a second she is hit with a flash of a memory of Sarada's father back in the days, when they were still Academy students. Sasuke and her just look so much alike it's almost unbelievable…

"Mama…" when Sakura blinks, the reality in front of her comes back and horror washes over her at the picture of tears flowing down her daughter's pinkish, still childishly round, cheeks and one hand pressed tight to her body, however that is not enough to hide a thin streak of blood on the material of the white shirt she is wearing. Sakura's eyes follow the crimson trail to find a single kunai laying in front of Sarada, stained in the evidence of the crime.

But it's not just a regular knife. It's one of the set Sasuke had ordered to be made for himself before he left the village of Konoha once again, this time, leaving his wife in their mutual hopes of a normal childhood for their daughter, as much as it could be with only one parent around, for how much time, neither of them could know…

Sakura's eyes soften when she returns the frightened stare of onyx eyes, the same as Sasuke's. Everything about Sarada reminds her of him. Her hair, too – they even stick out at their ends, similar to how he used to wear them when they were younger. Her features are taken after her mother but when it comes to the faces the small girl makes, it's half Sakura, half Sasuke – depends whether it's the reflection of happiness or feelings of hurt, like right now.

Sakura walks up to Sarada and crouches to match the girl's height, taking the small fist in her warm hands and closing it inside, beginning the healing and whispering soothing words of comfort. She will be alright. The pain will be gone in a second. Mama is here with her and won't let anything else hurt her the way this blade did. Speaking of which, how did it even happen..?

"I… I wanted to see them…" Sarada mumbles, avoiding her mother's gaze and fighting to stop the sniffing and wipe the tears away with the healthy hand, visibly embarrassed (that's the other thing she takes after Sasuke, she doesn't like to express defeat). "You… You said they are Papa's, so I… I just wanted to see…" the girl trails away quietly and though the next thing she sees is a grateful smile when her daughter leaves the room to go play outside, Sakura feels her heart squeeze in pain. They have both agreed for the separation. Yet the knowledge of that and the awareness of Sasuke's true feelings never make it any easier for her. She can't even imagine how Sarada must feel, not even having any memories of her father, as she was way too young back then to remember…

Sakura looks to the ground and gently picks up the kunai that is still marked with the girl's blood. The blood that comes from the fusion of genes of her and Sasuke. The liquid of life that runs its unstoppable pace through the body of their daughter. The fruit of their bond and the symbol of their unbreakable connection.

The proof of their love.

She doesn't even know when she has started crying. All she knows is that she's sitting on the edge of the double-bed, the piece of furniture that has been supposed to be _theirs_ but has only ever known the touch and weight of her flesh, and her only. She's holding the kunai to her heart and weeping, silently, unable to make it stop until it does so itself with a new wave of determination, until she forces herself to smile, however weak and sad it may seem, in undying faith that, one day, it will all be over and they will be granted their chance to stay by one another's side.

She will be alright. The pain will be gone…

The only question left is… _When..?_

* * *

 **ZJeM, 20.07.15**

* * *

 **From author:**

I was afraid I've lost all the inspiration for SSM but, luckily, it came back again today. :')

I hope you liked it, however short it is… :)

THANKS FOR READING!


	12. Day 20 - ANNIVERSARY

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is mine, except for the undying love for this ship, my OTP.

* * *

 **Day 20 –** _ **ANNIVERSARY**_

* * *

Sasuke feel as if he were swimming in a weird, white fog… Unable to move… Unable to speak… It is even hard to breathe, leaving it only quick gasps for the least oxygen he needs to stay conscious…

Where is he..? What happened..?

He stares above, too tired to look around even though every one of his watchful ninja senses is nagging him, stubbornly, to get to know the situation he has found himself in. To search for the enemy. To fight the genjutsu or whatever it is he's experiencing.

 _Overreacting, probably…_

And then, suddenly, the cloudy surroundings get darker, and as they do, there grows a dull pain in his chest. Sasuke winces and when he coughs, it's as if it weren't even him but somebody else. The shiny, sticky stain of gloomy red gets blurry in his eyes before he even gets a chance to take a good look at his own blood and the last thing he hears before he passes out is somebody calling his name and swearing…

He knows the voice better than his own.

 **X**

When he wakes up, it's bright again. The sheets are white, so are the walls and the blinding light from the window, and so is the labyrinth of bandages wrapped all over his body. The air smells of summer and fresh flowers but there is no bouquet anywhere near, not even a table to put them on, just a bunch of same-looking beds in a line.

If he wasn't supposed to be dead, he would think he was in a hospital.

" _You_ …" Sasuke freezes in place, suddenly painfully aware of why he's known the scent of the room so well, and it's hurting because he is afraid that the warmth of the long awaited reunion just might be enough to be unbearable in its might to the poor, injured organs of his... He moves his head to look to the side, cursing the weakness and the inability to make it turn faster, impatient to finally see her, to finally speak to her once again, to…

What he gets is a harsh slap on the cheek, and it hurts even more because of the broken hope and hurt pride of his than the actual physical hurt. Sakura must have held herself back a great deal, though, if his face was still in one piece…

"Sakura…" he tries, but it comes out merely as a hoarse, weak whisper of a plea, the tone only her has ever been allowed to hear from him. When he manages a side peek at his wife, struggling to ignore the ache of his cheek and the, strangely reminded of the moment she's hit him, beaten body, she is standing tense a step away from his bed, with fists clenched across her chest and eyes away from him, glistening with suppressed tears her hot-headed anger refuses to let him see. There's a deep wrinkle in her forehead, her lips are pursed and her hair is in a messy ponytail at the top of her scalp. She still hasn't washed away the driblets of blood from the pink wisps… _His blood_ , it suddenly gets to him.

"Sakura, I…" he forces his dry mouth to speak once again, but he falls silent at the first notice of her interrupting.

"Do you realize how much fighting I did to keep you alive?! Do you know how close it was for you-?!" her voice breaks for a moment, but she swallows, gathering all the remaining self-control she has and finishing through a choke of a sob threatening to escape her before she is done, "Do you know how _close_ it was for me to lose you?! You don't-! You don't just do such things to-! And when you were gone for-!" When she finally looks at him, he knows he's going to get away with this one, too. She's already forgiven him. It's in the heat of her green eyes of the color of _home_ …

Sasuke doesn't know what he did to deserve her love, but he knows one thing. He's never going to let it slip away from the grasp of his heart.

"Happy anniversary… I'm home…" he smiles at her, gently, and when the softness of her warm palms trap his face and her sweet lips catch his with greed not to be matched with any kind of longing, he knows he's never going to try and escape this one trap.

After all, if it's happiness being the aggressor, Sasuke is willing to obey with no objections.

* * *

 **ZJeM, 20.07.15**

* * *

 **From author:**

I hope I haven't overdone it with Sasuke being a sweet pie… I think I didn't. ;)

How did _you_ like it, dear readers?

THANKS FOR READING!


	13. Day 23 - PLURAL

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is mine, except for the undying love for this ship, my OTP.

* * *

 **A/N:** I started writing it on 23.07 at 11PM (23:00 in my country ;)) and there's also one usage of the number 23 in the chapter… Thought it was absolutely necessary for you to know..! ;D

* * *

 **Day 23 –** _ **PLURAL**_

* * *

It shouldn't be like this, Sasuke thinks, walking slowly down the street, careful not to crush into any of the carefree children running around in a noise cloud of their own voices nor quite the gathering of elderly people giving in to one of their favorite pastimes – visiting the local market on a lazy Sunday morning. The heat has still not risen from the ashes of yesterday's storm but it is already felt in the air that the day is going to be yet another one of the exceptionally hot ones, quite typical for what one would expect from the time of summer in Konoha. The sun is shining brightly, so much that it almost hurts his eyes to look in front of him – well, it certainly _would_ if it wasn't for the longer black bangs shading the sides of his face (he noticed they have grown with the years but it doesn't bother him so he just lets them be).

It seems like a completely normal, peaceful beginning of a good day… Quite the opposite, for Sasuke, at least! Lean fingers grip one of the shopping bags with a tad more force for better support of the weight of its content. He still hasn't come up with any rational explanation as to why Sakura has suddenly sent him to do the grocery shopping, before he'd even eaten decent breakfast, moreover, with a list of needed products so long that it took him almost an hour and a half to mark the search as complete… It would probably take a lot less time if she did it, Sasuke rarely visits the shops these days and it forced him to use almost every ounce of his keen shinobi senses not to get lost in the labyrinth of places Sakura told him are the best.

But there he is, granting her wish at the crazily early hour, on one of the rare days completely free of duty. What's more, it's the day of Sasuke's 23rd birthday! Not that he is a particularly dedicated lover of such celebrations, however more tolerant he's grown towards them after his final homecoming. It's always nicer with your close ones there to share the joy of those special days than as much as struggling to remember about them when you're on your own…

The man walks out of the busy streets, heading for one of the houses in the quieter, suburban area located near the forests rounding the village. Leaving the lively centre behind, Sasuke takes his time for a deep breath of fresh, warm air that smells of rain and dried-out grass. He looks at the surrounding of cozy detached houses and lets the corner of his mouth curve in a pleased smirk.

A perfect place to start over.

"I'm back…" he mutters, leaving his sandals by the main door made of glass, with two stately Uchiha crests at the both of its sides. Though it's already been a year that the two of them have lived in the house and almost two since Sakura first moved in with him, Sasuke still can't force anything but a quiet greeting from himself when he enters the house. For most of his life, he refrained from keeping up the tradition, as there was never anybody there when he came home, anyway, not after that one unforgettable, tragic evening when he was only eight years old. These days, he has Sakura, but something inside still stops him from saying those simple words aloud, like a senseless, paranoid fear that, maybe, if he said it, like with his family… _Sakura, too…_

"Welcome home!" Sasuke has no more time to dwell on the nonsense eccentricity of his as when he walks to the kitchen, the sight his eyes meet takes him aback for a split second before it's all pink hair and enthusiastic hug of his wife for some longer than fourteen months.

The shopping slips away from his grasp and a few unruly tomatoes roll away on the floor before he asks of her, in a single gasp he manages, "Sakura… Too tight..!" It's raspy and it's strained but, luckily, enough to make her realize she's overdone it a bit with the strength of her loving embrace. Sakura lets him go, giggling like a small girl she no longer is, she hasn't been for so long, having proved her determination and the power of her feelings on numerous occasions as a grown up young woman.

The woman he has been honored to made the oath to. To promise to stay by her side at all times and give his all to build the family of theirs with.

Her cheeks are flushed slightly and she is wearing an apron over her casual dress with the symbol of his clan on the back, and, once again, like every day for so long he doesn't even remember exactly when it started, he can't take his eyes off her, no matter how hard he would try to… She is beauty and power and kindness, and that he knows what monstrous effort it took for her to become who she now is, makes him even more in awe at what Sakura has achieved - the recognition of her worth, the world-wide fame as a medical ninja and the originator of the idea of treatment of children's mental health, and now, the family she has always dreamt of…

"Surprise! Happy birthday, darling!" Sakura shakes him out of the reverie, practically shoving him further into the room and showing off her culinary skills with the picture of a breakfast he can't help but feel his mouth watering at the sight of. There's everything and anything he could think of considering a delicious, fully nutritious morning meal. If anybody has ever had doubts if Sakura could also become a finely-skilled head of a family, on top of every achievement she's had, the woman's abilities in the field left nobody saint with any trace of a chance for criticism!

Sasuke side-glances at the fruit and vegetables scattered all over the floor and looks back at his wife with one eyebrow slightly cocked and a ghost of an amused smirk destroying the effect his mockingly stern eyes should have on her (as if that has ever even worked, she knows him all too well). "Why'd you send me, then? If there was already enough food to prepare it all?" he asks, letting himself be dragged to the chair and almost forced with Sakura's own hands to take a sit. The woman then quickly disposes of the protective layer of white clothing and joins him with a grin brighter than the weather outside.

"To get you out, obviously," she shrugs and he answers with a short, affirmative nod, unfolding his napkin in expectations that they will be now proceeding to the meal. His stomach has long decided that it was the high time for that and has kept reminding him with stubborn ache of hunger!

But something is not how it's supposed to be, Sasuke notices. When he checks on Sakura once again, she hasn't moved anywhere from the chair next to him, even though, as it has only got to him right now, the place setting for her has been put on the other side of the table. The man frowns, he doesn't understand what is happening. His wife has her hands folded in her lap, fingers intertwined together, and her eyes are on one of the thumbs brushing against the skin of the back of the other hand. He can't see her face and her eyes clearly, it's hidden behind a few loose, pink wisps, but if he were to guess, Sasuke would bet on the fact that she wants to say something but something forces her to hesitate…

"Sakura…" he begins quietly, but falls silent the moment she finally looks back straight at him, taking one of his hands gently in hers and resting the two of them at the table, and her eyes are glossy, her cheeks have gone pink once again and every one of the symptoms makes him nauseous in anxiety he is not fully aware of, because it surely is not anything good that she is so not like herself, until-

"The other reason is that… _We_ are going to need a lot of vitamins to stay healthy, you know…" she murmurs, almost embarrassed, until something clicks in his head and the realization must be reflected in the face he makes because now Sakura is not even holding back the tears and she is laughing through a sob, throwing her arms around his neck and letting him hold her close and safe, cradling _the two of them_.

"We…" he croaks out hoarsely, his fingers blending themselves with the curtain of her hair and her sweet scent being everything he smells at the moment, the heat of hers warming him and his arms still in the curvature of her body perfectly matching in shape to them, as if she were made to be ever held only by him, "We are going to…"

"Yes, darling!" she cries out happily in his ear, this time, her own joy so overwhelming that it makes her unable to be of a threat to his bones, "We're going to have a baby!"

And though Sasuke has never been known for expressing emotions, he doesn't even care to let out a gleeful laugh of happiness.

* * *

 **ZJeM, 23-24.07.15**

* * *

 **From author:**

Late, late, late again… But this time I managed to make it longer! ;) I couldn't not write anything for the prompt, the story was an obvious image in my head the moment I read it! Plus, who wouldn't give a humble present like this to one of their favorite characters forever?! HAPPY (late) BIRTHDAY, SASUKE! Enjoy the perfection of your beautiful family! :'D

How did you like it, dearest readers? :)

THANKS FOR READING!


	14. Day 30 - DYSTOPIA (APOCALYPSE)

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is mine, except for the undying love for this ship, my OTP.

 **A/N:** Quoting Itachi: " _I'm sorry. This is the last time…_ ". Please enjoy!

 **Day 30 –** _ **DYSTOPIA/APOCALYPSE**_

It's been two days that they have been chased. Well, it's not like anybody could ever get away from the government's soldiers for too long, anyway. What amount of comparatively peaceful time they have managed to get has already been an achievement of the most rare ones.

Two full months without any inspection. Eight weeks of staying under the strictest radar the history of the human kind has ever known.

But like anything good in the twisted reality they are fated to live in, their luck has come to an end and now they are spending the night in a cabin somewhere deep in the woods, with gunshots heard barely a few kilometers away, at best. Too alert to even try to sleep, without a chance to relax with the constant threat hung upon them, the paranoia no citizen is as little as hoping to dispose of before they die and all of their existence is just a painful memory of those who stay.

And the worst of all? It's been exactly two hours and twenty-three minutes that he hasn't said a word to her. A hundred and forty-three minutes of the peek of the tension that has been slowly creeping its way between them, like the horrid so-called "living standards" they had weren't enough but there was also a need for a conflict between them. They have promised to stay by one another's side. To protect themselves from harm and never give up hope, for Sasuke to give his all to support Sakura and for Sakura to stay the safety place for Sasuke forever, whatever happens.

And now they are sitting out there in the dirt, curled up in the corner the closest to the door (when it is the time to run, it's never enough to have the luxury of a long journey for an escape), side by side, their eyes staring in front of them, greedily clinging to the darkness, and not a single thread of contact between them. It's as if they were complete strangers, when it's _exactly_ the opposite matter…

Sasuke makes quick, shallow breaths through his nose, forcefully clenching his teeth to suppress what feels like a moan of pain clouding inside his chest. The piece of cloth he's been pressing into the wound in his leg has long before become too wet to be of any help but he has no other choice, hasn't he? He can't let her patch himself up, it would require too much strain he refuses to make her take for him. Not when they haven't eaten for two damn days, almost forty-eight hours, and not when it's only the seventh month and the pregnancy is at risk. He can do it. He will get through this injury without her being involved.

Sakura's hands move on their own, mindlessly caressing her swollen belly while all she can think of is what to say. How to start the conversation that has been needed to become more than just an inside craving of her heart for every hell of a second neither of them has as much as _tried_ to say anything. How to do the impossible and not make him hate her any more than she fears he already does...

"Do you hate me..?" she mutters before it even fully gets to her that the words have no other way but to be spilt right now, but when it finally does, she panics just a little bit and covers her mouth with one hand, refusing to meet his confused stare, she's too afraid she'd be able to see the worst in the onyx of them. She's learnt that whatever it is he doesn't say, there is a way to decipher out of the look in Sasuke's eyes…

"What..?!" he croaks out weakly in response, frowning at her though Sakura can't see it through the cover of her sloppily cut short, dirty, messy pink hair over her eyes. She seems to have cheered up some, after this one single word, though he can't see why that would be. The palm of her hand stops at the curve of her belly and for a few more seconds, the quiet falls upon them once again when she seems to be thinking through what she is going to say next.

"I asked…" Sakura finally murmurs, barely as much as a whisper, "I asked if you hated me… You haven't said anything for so long… You seem angry at me…" The other hand moves to fist over her heart and he knows it's subconscious, a way to deal with the weight of anxiety crushing her, it's been like this for as long as he remembers, since they were just kids running around carelessly and dreaming of becoming heroes that would be able to change the world… Sasuke's shoulders feel heavier with every memory he lets inside his head and so, usually he refuses to agree to their invasion.

"You should have stayed in the village, Sakura…" he says quietly, surprised by just how bitter it has sounded, even for himself. Her reaction is immediate and now Sasuke is being pierced by confusion in the green pools he never has enough willpower not to sink in. He knew she wouldn't like this topic to be brought back up, again…

"I never want to leave you, remember?" she reminds him, her voice shaky, more out of frustration than sadness. It's no wonder the conversation he has started yet again gets her angry, not after the amount of fights they have already had about it.

"It's safer in the village," he drawls out slowly. Sasuke knows it would make no difference to have that nonsense debate even just one time more - the both of them are too stubborn to ever admit defeat, anyway. But somehow, right now, he doesn't care. It's been the hardest two cruelly long-drawn days and he's dead-tired, in dull pain of his injury and on the verge of breaking, of losing it and just going out there to get killed in the fighting, if possible, taking a few more enemies with him to the other side… But he can't. He has Sakura and the baby, it's not just his poor imitation of a life he's living just for himself, anymore.

Sakura snorts. " _Please_ , how many times have I heard this already?! _Nowhere_ is safe in this world, you know this as well as I do!" she presses, only half-aware of what she's saying and how much ruthlessness she puts in doing so, embracing her own shoulders and shaking her head no at his aimless excuses.

"But there are places that are way more hopeful than running around the forest, don't you think?!" the risen tone of his strained voice surprises the both of them and they are left with their eyes opened wide in bewilderment until she turns her face away from his sight once again and silence rules their tense situation one more time. He's never talked to her like that. He is usually collected and calm, almost seeming cold, sometimes (at least to those who don't know him as well as she does), and the note of pain and rage in the sounds of his speech scare her when she has no choice but to give into the grim belief that it is _her_ that made him lose his cool like that…

For a moment, the only thing that is heard is Sasuke's quick, desperate breathing while he blinks away the sweat that flows down his forehead and over his eyebrows, not taking his eyes off the hunched form of his wife and trying to ignore the harsh ache inside of him, much, much worse than that of his leg's. It shouldn't be like that. Sakura shouldn't have to live in a reality this merciless and bleak.

"Look, I…" he turns his eyes away from her and it has been the right choice to make, because when he sees her glance back at him, he knows he wouldn't be able to finish with those eyes locked on his own, "I just don't want to lose you… The both of you…" his voice breaks slightly and Sasuke feels his fingernails dig into the inside of his hands for any support not to lose it before he is done, if he has already gathered as much strength as to begin the confession of his, "So…" his voice gets stuck somewhere deep inside his throat but he doesn't need to finish for Sakura to understand.

She wraps her arms around his neck, tender and loving and sweet, humming a soothing tune of sorts and pressing the whole warmth of her frame into him. Almost right away, he lets out a deep exhale, releasing all the tension and healing all the pain inside of him, if only for the shortest while of their closure.

"I know… But we're going to be ok, you know..? As long as we're together…" she whispers gently, and though none of the common sense of his agrees, Sasuke wants nothing in this world more than to be wrong, this once. His arm wraps itself in the small of her back, carefully, and one hand travels to rest at where their daughter is, the treasure of the love of theirs and the most valuable gift he has ever been given, by the wonder of Sakura's heart.

"Together…" leaves him in a hoarse undertone, and what neither of them understands but the both of them knows just feels right, is that Sasuke and Sakura are smiling.

 **ZJeM, 29-30.07.15**

 **From author:**

And so, the bittersweet day has come… This is the last story I have written for the SasuSaku Month 2015. So before I give into the mood and sob just a little bit over one of my favorite events ever having come to an end this year, I would like to thank you all, dear readers. Thank you for staying with me through all the July, for reading and experiencing the marvel of this pairing's together with me. No other story of mine has ever received this many favs, follows and reviews. You can't even imagine how much I appreciate every little dose of support from you, every single one of you! (Or maybe you can, wonderful readers have wonderful imagination, right? ;)) Thank you for having given me hope that maybe I don't suck that much at writing fanfiction for my OTP, heh…

Though I can't promise anything, as my main objective for the time is going to be giving my all to study the best subject there is AKA Medicine, I hope to meet you all, at least for a short story or two, in November, during the SasuSaku Smut Month 2015 I've read is supposed to take place… ;)

Also, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)

THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL TIME TOGETHER! Until next time… ;)


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